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M Memerial ^ervke for 

HOSEA W. ROOD 

Department Patriotic Instructor 

Grand Army of the Republic ^-4^^ i 

Madison, Wisconsin 
1913 



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A MEMORIAL SERVICE 



SAILOR - SOLDIER DEAD 



It is coming to be the custom on IMemorial Day to visit the 
waters flowing to the sea, Avhether brooklets or broad rivers, 
there to strew flowers' uj^on their surface in memory of the 
sailor-soldier dead who gave their lives for the life of our na- 
tion. This little service book is printed for such an occasion. 
It may be used by Grand Army men. by any of our patriotic 
societies*, or by schools. It is particularly adapted to the use 
of schools, for without the presence of a company of boys and 
girls all our memorial services would lose half their significance. 

In the presentation of this program the Leader may be the 
commander or patriotic instructor of a Grand Army Post, cor- 
responding officers of any other patriotic society, a teacher or 
older pupil of a school. It would be Avell to have the part of 
the leader committed to memory. 

Where practicable the service may best be held upon a bridge, 
whence the flowers, having been dropped upon the water, may 
be seen floating away toward the sea. 

Let those Avho recite or speak bring bouquets of flowers, and, 
while speaking,— where the words' make such action appropri- 
ate, — strew the blossoms upon the water. Every one on the 
program may well bring his or her floral tribute, dropping it 
upon the stream at a fitting time. It would not be out of place 
to have a few minature flags among the flowers. 

The children may be divided into two groups, one to pass 
along the edge of the bridge — dropping flowers — jus*t before 
each of the two recitations. 

If thought best, some one who can speak to a purpose might 
be -invited to give, just after the second song, a brief talk upon 



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the significance of this iiieuiorial service. This talk s'hould be 
as impressive as practicable. 

Country schools near a rural l)ridge — flowers all about — may 
make much of this water service. With s'ome modification it 
may be used at a riverside or lakeside. 

PROGRAM 

Our National Hymn. America, hy all present. 

a:\ierica 

]\Iy country 'tis of thee, 
Sweet land of liberty, 

Of thee I sing; 
Land wliere my fathers died, 
Land of the pilgrims' pride. 
From every mountain side 

Let Freedom ring. 

My native country, thee. 
Land of the noble free, 

Thy name I love ; 
I love thy rocks and rills. 
Thy woods and templed hills, 
]My heart with rapture thrills 

Like that above. 

Let music swell the breeze 
And ring from all the trees. 

Sweet Freedom's song; 
Let mortal tongues awake, 
Let all that breathe partake, 
Let rocks their silence break, 
The sound prolong. 

Our father's God, to thee. 
Author of liberty, 

To thee we sing. 
Long may our land be bright 
With Freedom's' holy light; 
Protect us by they might, 
Great God our King. 



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ADDRESS BY THE LEADER. 



Not all the fighting for our Hag was done on land. There 
were battles on the sea, and some of the most heroic deeds were 
done there — some of the most brilliant victories won. Brave 
men on battleships coasted up and down our shores' keeping 
close guard over our seaports and intercepting blockade run- 
ners, while others sailed away to distant seas in pursuit of 
armed vesvsels whose business it was to destroy our unarmed 
merchant ships. 

Union gunboats accompanied and aided our armies in all 
their battles along our great rivers. It is doubtful if, without 
the help of our warships, the Union forces could have got 
•possession of New Orleans; or. without our ironelad gunboats, 
could have taken ^.Icksburg, opened up the :\rississippi river 
and thus cut the Confederacy in two. 

It would have been all but impossible for our army to come 
into possession of IMobile had not the intrepid Farragut — lashed 
to the mast of his flag-ship — fought his way into ::\Iobile Bay 
and captured the almost impregnable forts that guarded the 
city. 

Had not that new-fangled little gunboat, the ^Monitor, ap- 
peared in Hampton Roads in just the nick of time to destroy 
the Confederate ^lerrimac. that formidable ironclad Avould no 
doubt have made its* ^\'ay up the Potomac to Washington and 
battered down our national Capitol; and then gone even to 
NeM' York and Boston and had those cities at her mercy. 

If the ever-vigilant T^nion warship, the Kearsarge, had not 
caught and sunk the formidable Confederate privateer, the 
Alabama, she might have gone on indefinitely destroying our 
merchant vessels, with millions of dollars of property belong- 
ing to loyal American citizens. 

Some of our naval battles were among the fiercest ever fought, 
and nowhere were more brilliant victories won than on the sea. 
Thousands of our sailor-soldiers were killed in defense of Old 
Glory or sank with their ships into watery graves, the old flag 
floating over them being the last sight to greet their closing 
eyes. 

It is in memory of heroes such as these that we to-day strew 
flowers upon these waters on their way to the great wide sea, 



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where they gave for the life of our nation the last full nieasure- 
of devotion — their own young and joyous lives. -May this 
simple, grateful service increase our love and devotion for the 
old flag under which they died. 

PRAYER 

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we remember as in- 
dividuals and as nations our dependence upon thee for every 
good and perfect gift. As our fathers in the days of old trust- 
ed in thy love and thy guidance, so do we now trust in thee. 
Help us to be as thankful to thee as we are dependent upon 
thy wisdom and power. 

With tender thoughts we recall to-day the heroic devotion 
and unselfish deeds of those who on land and sea served their. 
day and age, thereby bequeathing to us the priceless blessings 
of civil and religious liberty. We strew these tiOAvers upon the 
waters flowing to the sea as our tribute on behalf of a hundred 
million people in this and every other land who are sheltered 
and protected by our flag. Our comrades who went ''down ta 
the sea in ships" met there not only the fateful engines of 
death, but also the many perils of the mighty deep. Without 
their service and self-sacrifice the stars on our flag could not 
to-day shine in their stainless glory — and our republic be un- 
divided. 

]\rany of our soldier-sailor dead rest to-day a hiindred fath- 
oms deep in graves we cannot mark, yet thou knowest them all, 
and they are in thy loving care ; for thou boldest the waters of 
the earth in the hollow of thine omnipotent hand until the earth 
and the sea shall give up their dead, and "mortality shall be- 
swallowed up of life." 

May thy rich blessing rest upon this simple service; and 
may the spirit and influence of its observance abide with us^ 
and our children's children," exalting our nation in righteous- 
ness," until thy will be done among men as it it done in Heaven. 

We ask all this in the name of Him who tasted death for 
all of us. Amen. 



— 5— 

RECITATION 
For Water Service on Memorial Day, 
IT. W. R. 

We've searched tliroiigli raeadows. fields and woods, 

God's own fiower gardens bright, 
For roses red and violets blue, 

And daisies pure and white. 
With grateful, loving hearts Ave bring 

These fragrant, s-veet spring flowers 
In memory of the honored dead 

Who saved this land of ours. 

We strew these blossoms on the stream 

A-flowing to the sea, 
A tri])ute to the sailors brave 

Who fought for lilierty. — 
Who died a-fighting for our flag 

Upon the ocean wave ; 
And far away from home and friends 

Found there a wat'ry grave. 

And as we watch them float away 

Toward the great wide sea 
Where sleep our sailor-soldier dead 

Of honored memory, 
We think with loyal gratitude 

Of those brave men who gave 
Their lives and all that they held dear 

Our country's flag to save. 

Long may our starry banner bright 

Float over land and sea, 
Proud emblem of the land we love, — 

Of law and liberty. 
Long may our land in peace abide, 

And righteousness prevail ; 
May courage, purity and truth. 

With love, among us dwell. 



Let us he soldiers for the right, 

In these blest days of peace, — 
Enlisted for tlie eoinnion good, 

Our s'erviee ne'er to cease. 
Let us stand up against the wrong, 

As brave and true as they 
For wlioni we l)ring these fragrant flowers 

On this ^lemorial Day. 

SONG FOR WA*TKR SEK >^ICE. 

EBEN E. REXFORD 

Air: "W< Shall M,<l Bui Wc Shall Miss Him." 

Sweetest blossoms of tlie spring-time, 
. From the meadows and the hill. 
Scatter o'er the graves of heroes* 

Who, tho' dead, are living still. 
But, alas, how many l)rave ones 

Who their lives for Freedom gave. 
Sleep the sleep that knows no waking 

Underneath the ocean wave. 

Chorus: — Brooks and rivers, bear love's tril)ute 
To the dead in stream or sea, — 
Tell them how a nation honors 

Those who died to make men free. 

Dead are they, but not forgotten, 

Tho ' their graves we cannot see ; 
And to-day we pay our tribute 

To each brave one's memory. 
Scatter blossoms on the waters 

Soon to merge with ocean's wave, 
And tile tide Mill bear the message 

That we send to every grave. 

Chorus : — 



Wind and wave, take thou the blossoms 

That to-day we give to thee; 
Tell the dead that we remember 

Heroes' of the land and sea. 
Bear them where the dead are lying 

In death's last untroubled sleep, 
Freighted with love's tender mes'sage 

To our heroes 'neath the deep. 

Chorus : — 

*This tune may be found in mos't collections of war-time songs. 
If thought liest a sliort talk may be given here. 

RECITATION 

FJmv Goifh/ On 

MRS. OLYETTE ELLIS 

Flow gently on, shining stream. 
Flow softly as a pleasant dream ; 
Pause not where dimpling eddies whirl. 
Nor where the water lilies s'wirl ; 
But down through larger streams, glide. 
And on through rivers deep and wide 
Keep these -fair flowers we trust to thee; 
lentil they reach the boundless sea ; 
Then let them rest upon the waves 
Above our honored heroes' graves. 

Flow on where smile the gentle hills 
That feed thee M'ith their laughing rills ; 
Flow on through pleasant meadow land, 
And on where rocks in grandeur stand ; 
Flow on where bridges span thy way, 
And on, though clouds obs'cure the day ; 
Flow on where trees lean fondly down — 
On, on past busy mill and town; 
And bear these flowers to coral eaves 
Where s'oldiers sleep in sailors' graves. 



Float on, bright blossoms, to the seas, 

And bear our tear-fraught memories 

To those who died our flag to save — 

And sank within an ocean graA'e. 

Brave souls! they heard their country's call 

And deemed it joy for her to fall. 

Float on beneath the sunshine bright ; 

And on 'neath starry skies at night ; 

INIay flags and flowers we send to-day 

Sink on some hero's breast, we pray. 

We honor you, patriots brave, 

Wlio loyally and freely gave 

Your lives to save our UNION grand 

From ruin by a hostile band. 

We honor you, and place each name 

In annals of our Nation's fame. 

Boys of the Navy, brave and true. 

Who sank beneath the waters blue. 

Sleep on, sleep on 'neath crested waves, 

Rocked gently in deep ocean graves. 

SOME SUGGESTIONS 

Let it be remembered tliat in Wisconsin there is a IMemoriai. 
Day Badge — for everyl)ody, young and old. It is a miniature 
flag, to be worn in front of the left s'lioulder. 

From the very nature of the case, we survivors of the war 
for the life of our nation must by-and-by answer to the last 
roll-call; and then the loving service of strewing' flowers over 
the little mounds where sleep our patriotic dead must be per- 
formed — if at all — by those who are now our little citizens 
It is well for us who still live to seek to cultivate the most 
cordial relations with our boys and girls. It should be our 
pleasure to attend theii" patriotic exercises at s'chool on the 
birthdays of Washington and Lincoln, but especially those in 
connection with IMemorial Day. — not to talk unless urged to 
do so. and tlicn lirictiy and witli a ])atriotic purpose in view, — 
but to listen to their prepared programs; and then to thank 
both them and their teachers* for what they are doing to cul- 
tivate a love for the country we fought to save for them, and a 
reverence for our country's flag. 



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It is coming to be a custom — a most fitting custom — to plant 
in the school yard a Grand Army ^lemorial Tree ; or, where 
there are already trees enough on the grounds, to dedicate the 
best one of all to the Grand Arui}^, and to name it after some 
man who was once a good soldier and has been since the war 
a worthy and useful citizen. Let me suggest this as a part of 
the program at school this year in which comrades, teachers 
and pupils may well unite. 

"We do well to lionor and preserve our patriotic traditions'. 

I shall be glad to receive from comrades and school people 
either written or printed accounts of patriotic services of all 
kinds in connection Mdth Memorial Day. Please send them to me 
at the Capitol. ^Madison. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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